Carolina Panthers at Pittsburgh Steelers – An upset is coming

This week Carolina Panthers travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers in a rare Thursday night matchup worth watching. At the writing of this article, the Panthers are 4 point underdogs on the road. That spread will likely increase as the game draws near. The Pittsburgh Steelers are a good team and playing at home on Thursday night. One can understand why they are the favorites. Me? I am not so sure. I have a feeling that an upset is coming.

The reason? The new and improved Carolina Panthers offense.

Over the last nine quarters, since the fourth quarter comeback at Philadelphia, the Panthers lead the NFL with 99 points, including 4.1 points per drive. In other words, ever since Ron Rivera was forced to take the foot off the brake, the Carolina Panthers have the best offense in football. Norv Turner has taken the pieces in Carolina and formed them into a whirlwind of mischief and misdirection the NFL has rarely seen.

We all know Christian McCaffrey is an excellent receiver, the twist here is that the Carolina Panthers receivers are also excellent runners. On the season, Carolina has amassed 193 rushing yards by wide receivers, the most in the NFL. In fact, rookie receiver DJ Moore has more rushing yards than CJ Anderson. Ain’t that something?

As far as Norv Turner is concerned, runners are receivers. Receivers are runners. Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria!

It is for this reason, more than any other, I suspect an upset is coming to Pittsburgh on Thursday night. The Carolina Panthers are only now starting to hit their stride as Norv’s offense becomes fully implemented. The result could be a 7-2 record and 10 days to rest for Carolina.